#i'm sure he has totally normal plans for the comet that's coming at the end of next summer :)

[discordiansamba]

rotating an AU idea that I like to call "zuko and toph and do terrorism while rookie avatar aang feels like he's getting in over his head already" in which the hundred year war never happened because roku chose not to spare sozin, only to die shortly thereafter. the air nomads continue to thrive, but the air avatar dies of an illness in their childhood.

avatar korra guides the four nations into a time of prosperity, fueled by technological revolutions from the fire nation, agricultural innovations from the earth kingdom, seafaring knowledge from the water tribes, and diplomacy from the air nomads. she dies under mysterious circumstances, followed shortly thereafter by the loss of the earth kingdom and fire nation avatars- so the white lotus has a vested interest in the survival of the young air nomad avatar, Aang.

he grows up with his mentor, monk gyatso- but is also taught the four elements much earlier than previous avatars. he befriends the children of the southern water tribe's chieftain, the daughter of which is taught waterbending alongside him by his masters hama and pakku (who never see eye to eye). when he is fifteen, gyatso decides it would be a good chance for aang to see the world with his friends-

-starting with the newly formed republic city.

(or: it's an era swap without being a true era swap.)

aang is hopeful that his time as the avatar will be as peaceful as korra's was (you know. aside from the 'died under mysterious circumstances' thing). this may be wishful thinking given the recent unrest in the fire nation- mysterious assailants invaded the palace in the dead of night, resulting in the death of fire lord iroh and his heir, prince lu ten, and the disappearance of the young prince zuko.

the case was never closed.

iroh's brother, ozai, ascended to the throne in his place. his reign has been plagued by trouble ever since- in the form of a pair of masked terrorists known collectively as The Blue Spirit. as the Avatar, it's Aang's duty to stop the pair- which is a lot harder than it should be, given that nobody knows who they are.

at least he has the peaceful refuge of the Jasmine Dragon, run by old man Mushi and his nephew, Lee. the heiress of the Beifong family, Toph Beifong, and the princess of the Northern Water Tribe, Yue, are almost always there as well during their breaks from the Republic City Academy for Fine Young Ladies. even the bodyguard the White Lotus sent to Republic City with him opens up and just acts like a normal person while they're at the Jasmine Dragon.

(her name is Suki. she's a Kyoshi Warrior. Aang and Katara are pretty sure Sokka's in love with both her and Yue.)

...now if he could only figure out how The Blue Spirit always manages to have a leg up on them.